Wildlife

[alibabba]

Open to ideas to keeping personal human property separate from wildlife.



1. Predators belong in their environment which happens to be your yard, farm etc. They do not understand boundaries.

2. If the natural predator/natural prey is disrupted, suffering is on the human More mice, more voles, more moles more snakes, more more more.

3. Chickens are not indigenous to the US. It disrupts natural predation (that is, allowing chickens to be taken by indigenous wildlife.

 

[GitaBooks]

I agree exactly with what you are saying!

We have dogs and cats to keep predators away. Skunks, opossums and hawks sometimes come around, but they mostly leave the chickens alone. We lost a few to a stray cat named Mesa that came around and so we took him to a nice shelter to find a new home.

 

[thomasboyle]

Gitabooks has it right. Predator control is done in layers. Barn cats control mice and other varmits, but they are susceptible to coyotes, foxes and other predators. So farm dogs are the next layer, providing protection to the cats from their predators. We can introduce human made layers - fences, buildings etc. Scheduling is also a layer of security. If you vary the time you put your chickens in and out, predators won't know what time the buffet opens and closes each day. Predators will look for the easiest meal. Our job is to help them realize the easiest meal is out on the woods and not on the farm.

 

[alibabba]

I agree exactly with what you are saying!

We have dogs and cats to keep predators away. Skunks, opossums and hawks sometimes come around, but they mostly leave the chickens alone. We lost a few to a stray cat named Mesa that came around and so we took him to a nice shelter to find a new home.

A sad situation with a positive outcome for the kitty, sad for the losses. Can blame a cat for being a cat... a fox took out 17 pullets in one night. 3 survived. It was totally on me not the fox, the pen has electric now and no more losses. I saw a fox a few nights later...scrawny thing.

They belong here more than my chickens do, so just wanting a balance....

and a thread that doesn't want to kill and eliminate indigenous species. But how to keep chickens safe.

 

[GitaBooks]

We've trapped and relocated a few coons, and we've moved some opossums away from the farm and down into the woods, but this is also for their safety, as the dogs chase them down and will kill them
Other then the dogs for protection (and cats, I think they take out the weasels), the only real protection we have is locking the chickens up at night in a room with concrete walls and floor and perches set up high to prevent things climbing up to them (the perches are 10 ft up and the chickens have to fly to get to them).

Most of the losses we have had are chicks or silkies, as silkies are terrible at escaping predators. And we have mink, hawks, owls, raccoons, opossums, skunks, foxes, coyotes, stray cats, and weasels. I'm hoping its more than luck and my birds will stay safe and healthy for years to come.

I love animals, and plan to get a degree in Zoology. I read as much as I can on them and their behaviors, so I like our farm being a safe haven for wildlife, while much of the surrounding area is chemical sprayed fields. Miles and miles of plowed fields (not that fields are a bad thing, just the fields around us aren't good for asthma, seem to poison our pond so that when we swim in it we are at risk of getting sick, smells awful, is really dusty, and don't look that good). However, the fields around us seem to keep a lot of predators away, as they prefer to keep to the woods, so I they aren't all bad.


Mesa, sweet but a chick killer. We found him a great shelter where he could find a new home

 

[thegawd]

predators have there place and thats far away from my home. with the exception of raptors everything else gets shot. your talking about the natural balance and all but us humans have long screwed that up by eliminating all the top predators and or destroying there habitats. without the major top predators many animal populations grow out of control. protect your birds, livelihood and family by any means. traps are set 24/7 and relocation only puts a problem on someone else plus not sure how the regulations are where everyone is but here in Ontario your only allowed to move a "problem" animal 1 kilometer away. so your not solving any problems by saving a coon, a possum or a fox... by moving it such a short distance unless your putting your problem on someone else.

SSS

 

[thegawd]

and one more thing snakes are VERY good! I wish there was ALOT more snakes around here that would actually eat rodents. garter snakes galore but they only eat frogs, toads, worms ect... there should be fox snakes, milk snakes, rattlesnakes and a couple others around here, iv been searching for snakes for 30 odd years or so and only ever seen 1 fox snake and everyone wonders why the rodents are so crazily out of control.

leave the snakes alone!

 

[chickengeorgeto]

and one more thing snakes are VERY good! I wish there was ALOT more snakes around here that would actually eat rodents. garter snakes galore but they only eat frogs, toads, worms ect... there should be fox snakes, milk snakes, rattlesnakes and a couple others around here, iv been searching for snakes for 30 odd years or so and only ever seen 1 fox snake and everyone wonders why the rodents are so crazily out of control.

leave the snakes alone!

My birds love to play keep-away with garter snakes. I'll bet that your chickens also try and hog all of the small shakes that they find for themselves. When it comes to chickens and snakes (at least the younger snakes) at my place its finders keepers, loosers weepers.

 

[centrarchid]

and one more thing snakes are VERY good! I wish there was ALOT more snakes around here that would actually eat rodents. garter snakes galore but they only eat frogs, toads, worms ect... there should be fox snakes, milk snakes, rattlesnakes and a couple others around here, iv been searching for snakes for 30 odd years or so and only ever seen 1 fox snake and everyone wonders why the rodents are so crazily out of control.

leave the snakes alone!

For me, snakes definantly eat their share of rodents but they are not able to control outbreaks. The raptors, foxes and coyotes are much better but I exclude those. Rodent control I try through habitat management. I say try this year as outbreak has beaten me.

 

[GitaBooks]

My cats and dogs do great with keeping mice, shrews, moles, and voles down in numbers. Our dogs actually dig them up from the ground! They love it!

Our dogs loving going after shrews and voles